Yoga Practice for Spring: How to Cleanse the Body and Awaken the Mind with Yoga

Are you ready for spring? For many people, that means it’s time for cleansing. Each year around this time, many of us “spring clean” our homes. We wash windows, clean floors, and maybe lighten the decor for the warmer weather ahead. With our yoga practice, can do something similar for our bodies and minds as well. A yoga practice for spring is detoxifying. It also helps us let go of old baggage and look forward to new beginnings.

Yoga Practice for Spring Detox

Topping the list of poses that cleanse the body are twists. If you’re a fan, there are many to choose from. Here’s a short list of twists you can add to your yoga practice for spring if you want to detox:

Triangle

Revolved triangle

Prayer twists

Seated twists

Supine twist

These poses help twist out the toxins, making them ideal for spring.

Other great poses for spring renewal include:

Locust. This is an important pose for any cleansing practice. It helps with digestion and elimination, and it’s also a good pose for relieving stress and improving posture.

Bridge pose. When you’re designing a yoga practice for spring, include this classic back bend. Bridge pose offers many cleansing benefits. It helps to reduce anxiety, and it stimulates the organs in the abdomen, lungs, and thyroid gland. In short, bridge pose can help jump-start many bodily functions. It also helps to reduce anxiety and alleviate backaches.

Child’s pose. Though we think of it as a resting pose, child’s pose is ideal for awakening the mind. In spring, we’re often sluggish. It’s a time for awakening, and including child’s pose in your yoga practice for spring can help give you a sense of being reborn.

Savasana. Yes, savasana is the last pose of our practice and is often associated with dying. But don’t forget that the goal in savasana is to let everything go. Then, we rise and begin anew. So the resurrection of savasana coincides with the new birth of spring.

In addition to these individual poses, short flows, such as cat/cow or sun salutations are ideal for spring awakening.

Breathing Practices for Spring Cleansing

In any yoga practice, we focus on the breath. When you’re doing a yoga practice for spring, practice cleansing breaths like kapalbhati. This technique massages abdominal organs and helps blood and oxygen circulate. It’s especially beneficial for the brain and also helps to oxidize the blood.

Kapalbhati is also known as breath of fire or skull-shining breath for its ability to awaken the mind. It is an ideal practice for transforming from winter hibernation to new life in spring.To do this cleansing breath, take sharp, forceful exhales. Inhales will occur naturally.

Spring is also a great time to try something new, so get on your mat and bloom! How will you practice for spring? Will you twist out toxins, awaken the mind, or try something new? No matter which poses or practices you do, yoga is a powerful tool for letting go of stagnant winter energy and focusing on rebirth.

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